Cash Conversion Cycle

The cash conversion cycle (CCC) measures how long a firm will be deprived of cash if it increases its investment in resources in order to expand customer sales. It is thus a measure of the liquidity risk entailed by growth.

However, shortening the CCC creates its own risks,while a firm could even achieve a negative CCC by collecting from customers before paying suppliers, a policy of strict collections and lax payments is not always sustainable. The term Cash Conversion Cycle refers to the timespan between a firms disbursing and collecting cash. However, the CCC cannot be directly observed in cash flows, because these are also influenced by investment and financing activities.

It must be derived from Statement of Financial Position data associated with the firms operations.